There exists a continual need in the art to improve the strength and damage resistance of lightweight tables. This need exists because, in general, a trade-off between strength and weight must be made, i.e., the lighter the table, the weaker and more vulnerable to damage it is. Table corners are especially vulnerable since they are very likely to be hit and scraped against door frames and walls during moving of the table, and hit by chairs and other objects when stationary. Damage is of particular concern with portable tables which are bumped and jarred with some frequency. Permanent heavier tables are also subject to damage, but since their tops are usually heavy and durable the problem is minimal. Some tables deal with the problem of corner damage by eliminating corners altogether, such as round and oval tables.
The table edges and corners of most lightweight and/or portable tables are thin and therefore vulnerable even to hits of relatively little force. Peripheral reinforcements or supports such as beams underneath the tabletop are usually displaced inward from the table edge to facilitate grasping the edge by hand during movement. This forms an outer periphery of a few inches between the support beam and the edge of the table, causing the corner to be farther away from the support beams than any other point on the table edge. No matter how thick the tabletop is, therefore, the corner will be more vulnerable to damage than the rest of the tabletop edge.
A table corner is damaged principally through two kinds of impacts. The first of these, referred to as lateral or horizontal impacts, dent and damage the corner diminishing its strength and visual appearance and occasionally completely breaking off the corner. A downward or vertical impact, on the other hand, will bend or completely break off the corner given the absence or small amount of supporting material beneath the outer periphery.
Cobos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,951,576, discloses a strengthening apparatus for tables comprising gussets mounted at the corners of the table interior to the intersection of the peripheral support beams. Though the gussets appear to strengthen the table much as any support material would, they do not support the most vulnerable portion of the table corner between the edge and the peripheral support beams.
Other prior art tables thicken or otherwise strengthen the entire tabletop to properly support and strengthen the corners. This type of reinforcement increases weight and cost of materials, and does nothing to strengthen the corner relative to the rest of the table.